Protestors rallied outside the Capitol Building and marched through south D.C. on July 24 to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address before Congress.
Protesters demanded a permanent and immediate ceasefire, an end to all military aid to Israel, an international investigation of war crimes as well as holding those who have committed war crimes accountable, opening channels into Gaza to permit the flow of humanitarian aid and recognition of the state of Palestine and support for the Palestinian people.
Both protesters and police prepared for the march. The Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition advertised transportation to D.C. from 28 different cities. Transportation via bus was offered in 16 states.
Over 200 police officers from the New York Police Department were sworn in as United States Capitol Police Special Officers in anticipation of protestors.
American University faculty members Eleanor Sciannella and Shadia Siliman both attended the protest alongside the SEIU Local 500 chapter.
Sciannella, a financial aid counselor, said that following Biden’s exit from the presidential race, it was time to inform political leaders “we’re not going anywhere.”
According to SEIU Resolution 201, SEIU calls for, and on, elected officials for a ceasefire, resources in Gaza, humanitarian aid, an end of U.S. aid to Israel, a withdrawal of Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza and the release of hostages.
Sciannella described SEIU’s advocacy to be “humongous.”
SEIU additionally called on national and international unions as well as labor federations to adopt similar resolutions. The union announced it would also defend its members and their freedom of expression, including support for Palestinian liberation.
“There’s a lot we can do when we mobilize workers. I think unions provide a great infrastructure for mobilizing folks and taking back power from corporations and corporate interests, which is why genocide happens,” Scianella said.
Siliman, a teaching and learning specialist and elected staff union representative for University services, added “I want to be able to look back and say I opposed genocide and did absolutely everything I could to prevent it, and I want to be telling the truth when I say that, so that’s why I’m involved.”
Siliman said people should think intersectionally, as “we should understand that issues of local labor are intertwined with international human rights.”
“There is no separating the genocide in Gaza from the labor rights of AU staff and from the livelihoods of AU students and other folks in the AU ecosystem,” Siliman said. “A direct connection would be that AU is invested in different ways in businesses and corporations that are connected with Israel in funding different war profiteering and weaponry.”
Protestors continued to assemble in front of the Capitol while speakers addressed the growing crowd from a stage.
Rabbi Dovid Feldman from Neturei Karta International, an Orthodox Jewish organization that says it “follows traditional Judaism in its opposition to the philosophy of Zionism,” spoke to the crowd of protestors, demanding a permanent ceasefire and a total end to the entire occupation of Palestine.
“[Netanyahu] comes here supposedly representing all Jews, and claiming the Jewish religion supposedly condones his movement and the actions it carries out,” Feldman said.
Continuing his criticism of Netanyahu, Feldman called the prime minister’s claims “misleading propaganda” intended to drive American politicians to blindly support “what he calls ‘self-defense.’”
“The Palestinian people are not the enemy of the Jewish people,” Feldman said. “It is the brutal, illegal and anti-Jewish occupation of Palestine which is causing death and destruction to Palestine and to the Jewish people.”
Feldman said, “Jewish people are in a divinely decreed exile.”
“We are forbidden to create any sovereignty by physical means. We are forbidden to kill, steal, or oppress any people, especially the Palestinian peoples; people who were kind to us for so long,” Feldman said.
Protestors voiced their unhappiness not only with Netanyahu but also with the United States government.
Michael Walli was in attendance to protest a “morally dead United States government,” saying he was upset the government was sponsoring “genocidal activities.”
“Doesn’t make any difference how many frailties [Biden] has in his extreme old age,” Walli said. “He ought not to be in criminal noncompliance with all sorts of international human rights commissions. He ought not to be conducting himself and the U.S. government.”
Walli criticized not only Biden but also the entirety of Congress, saying that they are “complicit in the ongoing war crimes going on around the world” and “have no integrity.”
Michael Marceau attended the protest alongside Veterans For Peace, a global organization of military veterans who advocate for a culture of peace. Marceau explained the organization’s mission was to seek justice for veterans and victims of war.
“There’s many, many, many victims in the Middle East, Gaza and Palestine. We’re here to speak up for them,” Marceau said.
Marceau served in Vietnam in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971. After spending nine months in the hospital, Marceau was permanently retired for severe injuries and received a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry in recognition of his service.
“I know what the people in Gaza are going through; all of them suffer from PTSD,” Marceau said. “That’s a common element among all veterans, whether you served in the frontlines or not. War is not the answer.”
Ellen Barfield is the co-founder of the Baltimore chapter of Veterans For Peace, the Veterans For Peace representative to the United Nations Department of Public Information and a U.S. Army veteran who attended the protest alongside Marceau.
“I have had the very good fortune of traveling to Palestine six different times since 1991. So I've known what was going on. Yeah, this is extreme, but it's not unusual. It's just stepped up. And it's got to stop,” Barfield said.
Gabriel Connolly attended the protest to demand an end to “the apartheid that’s been going on for 76 years.”
“We want a free Palestine from the river to the sea where everyone is equal,” Connolly said. “One person, one vote; not one race having privileges over another.”
Connolly said individuals in Palestine wanted the same thing we have in the United States: equality under the law.
“There's a lot of people that are very angry that they [Congress] don't represent the American people,” Connolly said. “The majority of the American people want a ceasefire. They want equality all over the world. And Congress is not representing what the American people are saying.”
Connolly also believes Vice President Kamala Harris must separate herself from the Biden administration’s response to the conflict if she hopes to win the presidential election.
“For Kamala, specifically, she needs to break ties with what the Biden administration has been doing if she wants to win the presidency. The people are not going to vote for her if she supports the murder of children in genocide,” Connolly said.
Jill Stein, a third-time presidential candidate for the Green Party, informed reporters she had no confidence in Harris.
“We've seen her go along entirely with the Biden agenda. We've seen her vigorously advocate for [American Israel Public Affairs Committee]. She's a speaker for AIPAC, she has inherited Biden's money for AIPAC. So it's $5 million that she has kind of bribing her to stay the course,” Stein said.
When asked about those who call protestors antisemitic, Stein referenced her own Jewish background to say these accusations are a “smear campaign,” and “propaganda to try to shut down the anti-genocide, anti-war movement.”
“By no means is this antisemitic. In fact, in Jerusalem, Jews, Muslims and Christians lived together in peace, until the Zionists came in with a plan for ethnic cleansing,” Stein said. “This has nothing to do with religion. This is about Zionism.”
Stein also criticized the amount of tax dollars Congress has utilized to supply aid to Israel, demanding the establishment of true security she said American families needed. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of United States aid since its establishment of statehood in 1948. In the 76 years since, Israel has received about $310 billion from the United States.
“When so many Americans are locked into student debt and medical debt, we are hurting here at home, because our tax dollars are being squandered on the endless war machine,” Stein said.
As speakers concluded their portion of the program, attendees began to march down Constitution Avenue. At the intersection of Constitution and Louisiana Avenue, U.S. Capitol Police and NYPD officers met protestors with a row of bikes.
At 1:41 p.m., protestors and police began to shove one another. U.S. Capitol police proceeded to pepper spray the crowd.
Police continued to pepper spray the crowd for one minute starting at 1:42 p.m.
Protestors moved up Louisiana Avenue and west via D Street before turning up Massachusetts Avenue. Despite meeting police blockades at First and D Street, 2nd and D Street and 3rd and East Capitol Street, protesters continued to march.
Protesters organized again at Union Station. As the group gathered, buses stopped running to or from Union Station.
Some demonstrators then burned American flags, hoisted a Palestinian flag in place of an American one and painted messages on the Columbus statue out front of the station. These were later removed Thursday morning, and the American flag was re-hoisted.
According to The Washington Post, 25 people were arrested at the protest. The D.C. attorney general’s office confirmed it dropped 11 of 25 cases that had charged offenders with misdemeanor crimes.
It is still possible the charges could be revived or that others could be tracked down and charged later.
Izzy Fantini contributed to this reporting.
This article was edited by Mackenzie Konjoyan, Maya Cederlund, Tyler Davis and Abby Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks and Ella Rousseau.
